Let’s become as philosophical as the French

Emmanuel Macron is ripping up the French baccalaureate, but there is one element of the old curriculum he is determined to keep: the four-hour philosophy exam compulsory for all 18-year-olds. Mandatory philosophy may sound like enforced navel-gazing but it is the crowning glory of the French education system — and we should introduce it here.

Imagine how much more illuminating it would make our public discourse if politicians had once faced questions such as “Must we forget the past to give ourselves a future?” and “What does one gain from trading?” (both on recent French exams). Imagine how much more rigour we would demand of our own thinking if we were equipped to test our arguments for wrinkles and if the searching questions of philosophy…